11.08.2025

Jackson is an Arizona native and grew up in Peoria, Arizona. His childhood was filled with the three B's - baseball, band, and his brothers, Jake and Josh. He played little league and club baseball from age four through middle school. When he got to high school, Jackson decided to learn how to play the Marimba and joined his high school band, where he went on to win a state competition and perform in the 2015 Super Bowl halftime show. Jackson attended Arizona State University, where he graduated Cum Laude with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, with a minor in business. Jackson currently works for a private utility company as an engineer, managing high pressure gas pipe replacement projects. Shannon is also an Arizona native, and grew up about 30 minutes east from Jackson, in a town called Cave Creek. Here, she grew up with her younger brother, Braylen. Shannon found her love for dancing at a young age when her parents enrolled her in studio dance classes at the age of five. She took a break from dance when she was in middle school to join the school's cheer team. In high school, she found the best of both worlds and joined her school's Pom Team, where she and her team went on to win both state and national titles. Shannon has always been passionate about her education, and attended Arizona State University, where she graduated Suma Cum Laude with a degree in Civil Engineering. She now works at a civil design firm, where she designs and manages large scale commercial and residential land development projects. We met while we were both attending Arizona State University, in January of 2019. Our paths crossed in a co-ed engineering fraternity that we had both pledged, called Theta Tau. Like many love stories, we began as acquaintances, slowly became friends, then eventually began dating less than a year after we have met, and the rest is history. There is a special place in both of our hearts for Theta Tau, for more than one reason. Though both of us have met many of our lifelong friends through this organization, the most important person each of us met, was each other. We continue to attend Theta Tau events as alumni, and it is always so funny to introduce ourselves to the younger members as "two engaged brothers!"

Ask any of our friends and family - we LOVE to be busy. If it's not working on our home in Peoria, Arizona, it's dreaming up our next travel destination, or planning a dinner party for 30+ of our closest friends. We love our time to be filled with as many activities as the day can fit. We bought our home in Peoria, Arizona in the summer of 2022, and have been working on it ever since. It was by no means a "fixer-upper" when we moved in, but once our improvement ideas started, we couldn't stop! What more could you expect from two engineers? By ourselves and with the help of our families, we have painted walls & ceilings, repainted our kitchen cabinets, built custom barware shelving for our dining room, and refinished a few pieces of vintage furniture. And that's only covers the inside! In our backyard, we have installed retaining walls, redid all of the trim around our grass, added an irrigated garden, installed a paver patio and paver sidewalk, and built an outdoor BBQ grill island... just to name a few! When we are not working on our home, we love to travel. In the first two years of dating, we found a way to take at least one trip per month of dating. We built out our 4X4 SUV to be our dream overlanding vehicle, and it took us camping all across Arizona, California, Utah, and Colorado. We've been able to travel across the county as well, with our families, to visit friends who have moved, and some spots just for fun! Some of our favorite trips have been international. We have been able to travel with our families to to Canada, the Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic, and we were able to travel to Spain & Japan recently too. We even got engaged in Jamaica! Needless to say, with all of our many destinations, we started planning our future Honeymoon maybe a month after our engagement. We plan to travel to Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam after our wedding.

I've been with Jackson for over five years now (six by the time our wedding comes) and I have loved every minute of it. When we first started dating, I recall that neither of us wanted to be in a relationship at the time. Jackson was getting ready to graduate college, and potentially move out of state after, so I remember holding back my feelings at the beginning. We became official boyfriend & girlfriend after six months of dating; it was probably around that time that our feelings for each other began to alter our individual future plans. It wasn't until he made a small comment in passing that I was able to start picturing my forever-life with him. After I had gotten back from a ski trip where my mom taught me to ski (and to finally get over my fear of skiing), Jackson, who has a passionate love for skiing, said something along the lines of, "How fun would it be to teach our future kids how to ski?" My initial reaction was "This guy is crazy...I've only been his girlfriend for a month!" But as his words had began to sink in, I couldn't help but picture my life with him. We soon started spending every day together in college, and Jackson ended up staying in Tempe until I graduated. In the blink of an eye, I went from beginning to picture my life with Jackson, to not being able to picture it without him. He is my best friend, he is the one person I want to spend all of my time with, and he pushes me daily to be a better version of myself. I love his gentle compassion, his passionate drive, and his ability to prioritize our love. Jackson is the absolute love of my life, and I cannot wait to marry him. - Shannon Three months into our relationship, something happened that would change the world forever, a global pandemic. We were forced from our classrooms and offices into online lectures and work from home. In the midst of all the uncertainty and fear, we built a strong relationship based on mutual respect, kindness, stability, and of course love. While the days of quarantining blurred into each other, Shannon was my light helping to get through another monotonous day. Like many others, we dove head first into the only viable travel option during that time: camping. For me, it was a reconnection of a hobby fostered during my childhood, but for Shannon is was uncharted territory. We took the challenge head on and began going on monthly trips, just the two of us and our love flourished. Nothing brings two people together like karaoking on long road trips, waking up to a fresh layer of snow on the ground, or backpacking the Grand Canyon. We take challenges head on as a team and will continue to do so throughout our lives. We make each other better and she is the best person I've ever known. Life is full of uncertainty, but I know one thing for a fact: Shannon and I were meant for each other and I cannot wait to take on this new chapter in our lives together. - Jackson